Thin Lines
by TheShock
Summary: [A "The Final Station" fanfiction] Daniel Colbert had a peaceful life in the small town of Redmund, until strange occurences started to happen. He went through something most people haven't heard of, or discredited it as a mere tell-tale. But he was certain of what he saw...(Rated T to stay safe. TITLE IS CHANGED.)


**Author's Note: This idea came to me after I watched the Final Station's playthrough...**

 **And I felt the ending was a little _disappointing_ for my taste, so I decided to spin things a little.**

 **In the back of my mind, I thought... _what if the Second Visitation was actually a lucid dream?_  
**

 **I'll also give the conductor a name, Daniel Colbert.**

 **To facilitate reading the story, here are some guidelines:**

 _Italic - the conductor's narration as he remembers the Second Visitation's dream, and general narrative of the story._

 _"Italic"_ \- marks _dialogue happening within the narration, so it's what he heard in his memories._

"Normal" - this marks normal dialogue.

[Normal] - this marks [chats] between Daniel and the Railway Staff.

 ** _"Bold/Italic" -_** marks _**internal thoughts.**_

 **Bold** \- marks **yelling, or emphasis of certain things.**

 **For the moment, it will be just a one-shot, but if you like it, please, leave a review in the box below.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Final Station game, it belongs to Do My Best and its' affiliates.**

* * *

 ** _WHEN QUESTIONS ARISE_**

 _"I'll wait for you to turn into one of them..." the mysterious cowboy said to me as he pointed his rifle, "you won't be lasting much longer, Daniel."_

 _"Who're you? And why-" I paused, coughing a little black ooze, "do you think I'll be one of them?"_

 _"The radiation isn't fully protecting you anymore..."_

 _And then I heard a loud bang._

 _I woke up in my house, sweat beading itself on my forehead, as my eyes shot up to the grey ceiling, while my hands were trembling over the fluffy blanket. I then turned to look at the clock on my bedside table - it was six in the morning._

 _ **"Just in**_ _ **time,"**_ _I thought as I slowly descended from my bed, the nightmare still haunting me, aware that it's been two years since the Second Visitation - or whatever I saw in those two years, cause it's still a bit hard to process right now. Outside, the grey, industrial-like atmosphere of Redmund felt somewhat_ _ **gloomy**_ _for my tastes - it almost felt like the town was deserted, or at least, not as lively as before, due to the calculated decimation of those aliens._

 _I walked to the bathroom, washing my tired face as I stopped to gaze in the mirror, noticing the faint light from outside._ _**"Whoever that guy was, he was determined to put an end to me...But oddly, I didn't turn a monster."**_ _I could only think as I finished brushing my teeth, and walked back to the bedroom to change into my trusty train driver uniform, ready to begin today's work. A small buzz went off as I received a message._

"Daniel,

Be sure to come to the station early today.  
I have an important task for you.

Redmund Station Master Mark Smith."

 ** _"I hope it's nothing really important..."_** _I grumbled as I closed the door behind me, only to meet the Cowboy._

"Hello, Daniel. Looks like you accidentally survived." he said, puffing from his cigarette. "I'll still wait for the moment you'll turn..." he paused, "...and then BANG."

 **"Not gonna happen,"** I grumbled in a low voice. "Now, excuse me while I have some work to do."

"I'll wait, Daniel." he added behind me, as if he was **aware** of something I didn't know.

 _I walked down the somewhat silent street, apart from a few people talking between themselves, catching a few words like "they'll soon be here" or even "the Guardian is our only hope." I hoped that they were kidding - as far as I could remember, my dream forebode the whole thing's demise - but nobody would believe me, except for the Cowboy._ _ **"I have yet to give him a name, the guy is certainly strange...maybe I'm the only one seeing him."**_ _I thought as the station loomed in the distance, with Belus-07 standing faithfully on the line._

"Ah, there you are, Dan." Mark greeted me lightly. "Okay, I've gotten orders to send this cargo to Ristol."

 _Those words were the beginning of the end for me, as if the lucid dream started to seep into the reality I've known, and the Cowboy's words started to ring in my head, "I'll wait for you to turn into one of them." Whatever that meant, his tone wasn't a nice one and it seemed like he wouldn't be changing his tone anytime soon.  
_

"Dan?" Mark's voice snapped me back to reality, looking at me with concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill, I'll go to Ristol." I huffed as I signed the small paper before me.

"Dude, you should consider a vacation." Mark said as he reluctantly took the paper and registered the order in his computer.

 _I walked towards the large locomotive, and I felt proud to travel in this beautiful train - the experience is amazing - but I was also quite concerned by the fact the looming shadow of the dream was slowly, but surely, making its' way into my reality. I shook off the thought and started the electric engine, while I heard a few footsteps in the small vagon my train held for the passengers. **" 'The hell? I'm pretty sure I said no passengers-"** I thought as I opened the door, only to see the Cowboy sitting there, relaxed, smoking his usual cigarette, his white eyes staring at me in a somewhat horrid way.  
_

"Thought I'd be tagging along." he said as if he **owned** the train, "Your misery sure loves company."

"What do **you** want?" I asked in a stern voice, "You keep following me..." I paused, "...and I don't like it."

"It's my job," he paused, "...to get rid of the pest. Try not to become one."

 _I huffed and returned to my post, watching the landscape changing before me - the sun was gently covering the fields as I kept manning the train, - but the thought of having **him** as my passenger was certainly irritating, to say the least. I looked over the console, and noticed Tim Lanning was online, a stray thought making its' way in my mind. **"Hm, some distraction to keep myself from thinking I have a danger in my** **train."**  
_

[Daniel: Hey Tim

Tim: Hi, Dan. How're things going?

Daniel: Heading to Ristol, any news?

Tim: The Council's still silent.

Daniel: Shit, be careful.

Tim: You should be. Stay stafe.]

 _After the small chat, I looked over the board to see how much closer I was to my destination, and since I had nobody else to talk to, I reluctantly went back to check on the Cowboy...  
_

 _...but he went missing._

 ** _"What the hell?!"_** _I thought, not before I saw a small note next to his seat, on which he wrote, with red ink,_ "COME SEE ME. YOUR FATE IS WRITTEN.", _and I just didn't want to believe him. I didn't._

 _There was no way that my dream was getting for real in here..._


End file.
